Meow
by gagewhitney
Summary: It's his own fault for falling asleep in the office.


Title: Meow

Author: GageWhitney

Rating: K

Pairing: Nathan/Audrey

Disclaimer: Very much not mine.

Summary: It's his own fault for falling asleep in the office.

Note: For serenitymeimei's prompt in the comment fic post at the havenmaine LJ community. It's a little late for Halloween, but I figured, what the hell?

* * *

It's his own fault for falling asleep in the office, Audrey thinks, as she hovers over her partner with a fat, black Bic. If he hadn't fallen asleep – mouth parted, feet up, leaning back in his desk chair – she probably wouldn't have been tempted at all.

But he did, and she was, and now she's careful to touch only the felt tip of the marker to his face, knowing that if he felt her skin against his, it would probably wake him and, in turn, ruin her awesome prank.

She covers the tip of his nose liberally in ink, then draws three smooth lines on either side of his face. Whiskers. She's never been gladder for Nathan's numbness than she is at that moment.

She puts the finishing touches on her masterpiece, then carefully stows the offending marker away in a desk drawer before tip-toeing back over to him.

"Hey, Nathan," she says. She shakes him gently. "Come on, partner. Time to get going."

"Huh? What?" he says with a start, dropping his feet to the floor. "Did I fall asleep?"

"You did," she says, a hand on his shoulder. He runs a hand over his face, and there's a moment where she's afraid he'll smudge the ink, but it holds up. "We're supposed to be at the Gull, remember?"

"Yeah. Sorry. Let's go," he says, standing. He yawns and pulls on his jacket, and she has a hard time hiding the smile on her face.

* * *

She lets Nathan walk in ahead of her so that she can gesticulate wildly behind his back, quietly warning Duke and Julia not to mention the artwork on his face.

Of course, Duke can't help himself and grins widely anyway. "What's new, pussy cat?"

Nathan knits his brows together. "Huh?"

"What's up?"

"Not much… Tom," he says slowly. He looks at Audrey, who just shrugs. Julia hides her smile by taking a sip of beer.

"Sorry we're late," Audrey says. "Nathan took a little catnap in the office."

Nathan shakes his head sheepishly, misinterpreting their giggles. "I don't know what happened. I was just going to close my eyes for a second."

"That's okay," Julia says, patting his arm. "I only got here a whisker before you, anyway."

Duke rocks on his heels, giddy, his grin stretching from ear to ear. "Okay, well, why don't you guys have a seat? I'll go get the food."

"What are we having tonight, Duke?" Audrey asks.

"Shrimp scampi," he says. "You guys are going to love it. My new chef is the cat's pajamas."

* * *

Halfway through dinner, Nathan finally senses that something's off.

"Is something going on?"

"What?" Audrey says innocently. She, Duke and Julia force themselves to look perplexed.

"You've been acting weird since we got here," Nathan says, glancing between each of them. "You guys look like you're hiding something."

"Sort of like the cat that ate the canary?" Julia offers, and the three of them burst out into uncontainable laughter.

"Okay, I'm really confused," Nathan says. He turns to Audrey. "Are you..." He trails off, making a round gesture on his stomach.

"What? No!" she cries, eyes wide. Duke and Julia take in the exchange with raised eyebrows.

"Then what?" he says, exasperated. "What's the big secret?"

"Geez, Nathan," Duke says. "You know what they say about curiosity."

"You should stop pussyfooting around, though," Julia says to Audrey, convincingly faux serious. "Hasn't the poor guy been through this cat-and-mouse game long enough?"

"You're right," Audrey giggles and puts a hand on Nathan's arm. "I'll tell you if you go grab me another beer."

"Okay," he says. He looks like he doesn't quite trust her.

"Just reach under the bar," Duke says, and Nathan nods at him, rising from his seat. The three look at each other, shoulders shaking, tears of silent laughter at the corners of their eyes.

Nathan walks across the room and leans over the scarred wood, snagging a couple of beers from their hidden perch. He's still wondering what the hell could be going on when he straightens and catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror hanging over the bar.

"Audrey!"


End file.
